James Keith, conspiracy author and researcher, died Tuesday September
7th while
undergoing surgery at Washoe County Medical Center in Reno, Nevada.
According to the
Coroners report, Keith suffered a fatal blood clot while surgeons
attempted to repair a
broken leg. The explanation doesn't sit well with friends and
colleagues, as mystery and
intrigue surround the demise of the conspiracy icon.

Jim Keith authored a volume of articles, fiction and non-fiction works,
but is best known for
his conspiracy books Black Helicopters Over America, OK BOMB!, Casebook
on The
Men in Black, and Mind Control World Control. Keith was a featured guest
on the Art
Bell radio talk show, and also appeared on a number of television
programs including
HBO's Making of Conspiracy Theory and MSNBC. Recently, Keith had made
the transition
to the Internet, writing a weekly column for NitroNews. The British
based news service has
been offline since Keith's death, and rumors are abounding among friends
and fans.

According to the newsletter Conspiracy Journal, there is speculation
that a recent column
published with NitroNews may have lead to his unexpected death. The
column, entitled
"Princess Diana Was Pregnant - Fayed's Physician Examined Her
Commentary by Jim Keith" was reprinted in the newsletter. Might Jim
Keith have been the
man who knew too much?

Colleague Kenn Thomas, who co-authored The Octopus with Keith, remembers
the
writer:"He lived on the edge, where I usually tried to catch up with
him." Thomas plans to
travel to Nevada to investigate Keith's untimely death "while the trails
are still fresh. . . "

In Reno, Thomas is sure to find plenty of red flags.

George Piccard, a close friend of Keith, recalls: "I went to visit Jim
in the hospital that
Tuesday night. I had spoken with Jim the night before and I remembered
which room he
was in, but when I checked in at the nurses desk on that floor, the
third floor, I was told
that Jim was in room 106, on the first floor. When I checked that room,
106, I found an
elderly lady with a completely different name."

Piccard then says that he asked another nurse where he could visit his
friend. "After
checking the computer, the nurse made a number of phone calls to
different people within
the hospital. After what seemed like an eternity, she handed me a piece
of paper with a
phone number on it, and said that she 'couldn't disclose any information
regarding the
patient' and that I would have to contact the 'family spokesperson."

"At that point I was overcome with dread." Piccard says, "I asked the
nurse 'He's not dead
is he?' and there was no response. I said to her, 'Tell me he's not
dead.'"

Piccards fears were soon validated. After frantic phone calls to
friends, Piccard received
confirmation from a Keith family member.

"I didn't believe it. My best friend was gone. He broke his leg and now
he's dead. It didn't
make any sense." said Piccard.

Keith obtained his injury at the Burning Man, an eccentric art festival
held annually in the
northern Nevada Black Rock Desert. His leg was broken when he fell from
a stage, just
three feet above ground. The hospital reports that related kidney
problems developed soon
after, and prevented immediate surgery. Three days later, when that
surgery finally came,
Keith died.

"He [Jim] told me, in one of our last discussions, that he didn't want
to be put under, that
he couldn't handle the anesthesia. He said that if he went under, he
didn't think he would
wake back up. He was going to leave the hospital and go home with his
broken leg if they
were going to put him under." Piccard says "The last time I spoke with
him, he told me that
they had arranged to use a local, an epidermal."

Keith's nephew, Chris Davis, concurs that his uncle insisted on not
being administered
anesthesia. It remains unexplained why Keith was given anesthesia.

Jerry Smith, a lifelong friend of Jim Keith and fellow conspiracy
author, tells that Jim had a
rule-- Keith's Law --which states "all conspiracy authors must die in
mysterious
circumstances."

Jim Keith was 49 years old. He is survived by two daughters.

From: "Thomas, Kenneth F."

Thank you for the kind words about Jim. He was a dear friend of mine and
an important
person to the world. The loss is immeasurable. He was not just the
co-author of "The
Octopus," but a dharma combatant who demonstrated time and again that
the world is far
more multi-dimensional, far more interesting, than the pablum that
usually passes for news,
information and normal discourse. Unfortunately, it is also far more
dangerous.

Rumor has it that Jim may have been killed because he mentioned the name
of the
physician who declared Diana was pregnant at the time of her death. I
have long noted the
connections between Diana's death and the Octopus. Diana was the subject
of Jim's last
column for Nitro News, which has been linked at Steamshovel's "Link
Tank" for the past
couple of weeks. As you know, Nitro News has not been accessible since
Jim's death,
although I reached it just before receiving word of his passing.

This rumor may be nonsense. Casolaro may have committed suicide. It is
the way of the
Octopus. It exists but it doesn't exist. These are blood clots or
suicides or non-suspicious
homicides or real accidents. They just happen to cluster coincidentally
around a certain set
of facts or a certain perception of an organized conspiracy.

And if Jim Keith did not die as a result of a conspiracy, then I'm sure
he would want us to
make it look that way!

I hope you will remember Jim for his good humor and for his
fearlessness. He wrote what he
knew and he let the chips fall where they might. He lived on the edge,
where I usually tried
to catch up with him. I hope he taught me enough about the place to keep
up the work to
which we were both committed.

If word comes of public services for him, I will pass it on. I have
tentative plans to go to Reno and investigate what happened while the
trails are still fresh.
This will take money, though, and as with Jim and Danny Casolaro both,
that's always in
short supply, despite the romanticized view many people have of
well-paid, world traveling
writers and researchers. I urge anyone with information to contact me
directly at:
kennthomas@umsl.edu.We'll do whatever research work we can from our
desks and get as
much field work done as possible. I have sent inquiries to Burning Man
and know one
source who took a great deal of video there.

Also, several of Jim's friends have expressed an interest in putting
together a memorial volume of essays with proceeds going to his
daughters.
As these things develop, I will keep the list up to speed.

Thank you again. Remember Jim!

kt

Jim Keith

1949 - 1999

Jim Keith 1949-1999 (Breaking News, Conspiracy Journal):

Jim Keith 1949-1999

As some of you know James Keith broke his leg at Burning Man stepping
off of a three
foot stage. Thinking it was just a severe sprain he went home and tried
to sleep it off.

Realizing the next morning it was more he went to Washoe Medical and was
to be treated
for a broken knee. This was to involve surgery but was delayed to a
problem with kidney
function.
I spoke with him during the afternoon on Tuesday and he was in good
spirits but worried
about the thought of being put under. His quote being "I have this
feeling that if they put
me under I'm not coming back"

OCTOPUS CONSPIRACY CLAIMS ANOTHER?

This one is surreal. Perhaps the highest accomplishment of any
conspiracy researcher is to die under "mysterious circumstances."
--GC

The co-author of the book The Octopus, about a writer who died
mysterioulsy
investigating an international conspiracy, has died under mysterious
circumstances. Jim
Keith, who co-wrote The Octopus with Kenn Thomas based on the notes of
writer Danny
Casolaro, died at Washoe Medical hospital after going in for knee
surgery. Rumors suggest
that he was killed after revealing the name of the physician who claimed
Princess Diana was pregnant at the time of here death. "I have long
noted the connections
between the Octopus story and the death of Diana, "says Keith's
co-author, Kenn Thomas.

The web news service where Keith named the source has become
inaccessible since his
death.

Danny Casolaro died in August 1991 in Martinsberg, West Virginia, of
what appeared to be
a suicide. He was investigating the theft of a super-surveillance
software called PROMIS
involving Justice Department officials and a shadowy international group
he called the
Octopus. Two congressional investigations of the PROMIS case (also known
as the Inslaw
case, after the name of the company that created PROMIS)
recommened that Casolaro's death be investigated as a homicide. Keith
and Thomas
obtained the notes that Casolaro let behind and made them the basis of
their book, The
Octopus, published by Feral House in 1997.

"This rumor may be nonsense," Thomas said. "Casolaro may have committed
suicide. It is
the way of the Octopus. It exists but it doesn't exist. These are
suicides or non-suspicious
homicides or real accidents. They just happen to cluster coincidentally
around a certain set
of facts or a
certain perception of an organized conspiracy. Keith himself would
certainly have been
suspicious of the circumstances of his own death, however"

Jim Keith fell from a stage at the Burning Man arts event held in Black
Rock, Nevada, north
of Reno, his hometown, and broke his knee. He went to the Washoe Medical
hospital there
and died during surgery on September 7 at 8:10 PM, when a blood clot
released and entered
his lung.
In addition to co-authoring The Octopus with Kenn Thomas, Keith wrote
many other
popular books on conspiracy topics, including Mind Control/World
Control, Black
Helicopters I and II, OKC Bomb, Saucers of the Illuminati, Casebook on
Alternative 3,
Casebook on the Men In Black and many others. He was well-known and
well-loved among
the readers of
conspiracy literature, and Thomas is receiving a great outpouring of
grief and condolences
from Keith's many fans around the world.

A tribute page to Jim Keith now appears at
http://www.umsl.edu/~skthoma/urls.htm. It is
still linked to the news column wrote about Diana, although that site is
inaccessible. A
memorial volume of essays about Keith is planned.

Rumors abound in death of conspiracy theorist
By Anjeanette Damon

RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 9/28/99

Three weeks after conspiracy theorist Jim Keith died at Washoe Medical
Center during
surgery to repair a broken leg rumors surrounding his death abound aong
his fellow
watchdogs.

Keith, who lived in Sun Valley, spent decades examining paranormal
topics and purported
government cover-ups, writing several books on such topics as black
helicopters and cow
mutilations. Now, firends and co-authors are examining whether his final
column for an
online newspaper led to his demise.

"Rumor has it that Jim may have been killed because he mentioned the
name of a physician
who declared (Princess) Diana was pregnant at the time of her death,"
Kenn Thomas wrote
in his online tribute to Keith.

Thomas co-authored with Keith "The Octopus," a book about the mysterious
death of a
writer who had been investigating an international conspiracy.

"His death could be constured as mysterious since he was a conspiracy
writer, and I think
he would have liked it that way," said George Pickard, a close friend of
Keith's, who thinks
his death may have been linked to a black helicopter story he helped
MSNBC cable TV
channel run less than a year ago.

Keith, 49, died Sept. 7 when a blood clot traveled from his leg to his
lung, said Steve
Finnell, Washoe County deputy coroner. Keith suffered a severe fracture
Sept. 4 when he
fell from a stage at the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert,
110 miles northeast
of Reno.

He went home but called paramedics the next day in excruciating pain
from the injury,
Finnel said. He went to the hospital, where he originally protested
surgery. On Sept 7th, he
underwent the surgery to repairthe fracture and died from the blood
clot.
"There's no conspiracy here," Finnell siad. "This could happen to
anyone. We see it all the
tie. This is considered an accidental death."
Keith's interest in the unusual dated back to his childhood in the
mid-1950's. He started
writing in the early '70's, submitting work for several small magazines,
books and online
publications.
"I try to point readers in the direction of positive social change,"
Keith said last year during
an interview.
"I think Jim set a rule for other writers who would take this
seriously," Pickard said. "He
brought it to a level where it could be respectful. His contribution to
the genre was quite
significant in establishing a certain credibility that may not have
existed."

Keith also led a talk group at Planet 9, a small bar on East Fourth
Street, about UFO's and
other conspiracy topics.

He was an interesting speaker, definitely passionate and highly
intellectual," said Georgia
Ross, who leads the Art Bell Chatters, a group Keith often spoke before.
"He was big and
dynamic. His energy kind of took over. He always made his mark."

However, Keith had a feeling his work might have caught the eyes of the
conspirators he
sought to undercover.

"I have heard from informed sources that I have been put on a couple of
'watch' lists for
being such a subversive character," he said then.

[news note: article appears as it was printed in paper. I have heard
that there were
corrections issued, and I am currently attempting to track them down.]

JIM KEITH COMMANDER X RUMOR SOURCE REVEALED ! ! !

10/9/99

by George Piccard

Romantic notions of Jim Keith having in fact been Commander X are
roaming the internet
these days. Reading them has been amusing, but I thought it was time to
do my part to put
the rumor to rest once and for all. Jim Keith was not Commander X.

I knew Jim well for a number of years, we were close friends. He had his
secrets, but
Commander X was not one of them.

The rumor started a couple years back, when Jerry Smith, a lifelong
friend of Jim's and the
author of HAARP: Ultimate Weapon of the Conspiracy announced to a
discussion group
in Reno that Jim was Commander X. As was often the case, Jerry and Jim
had been
quarelling. The arguements would often go for weeks, and they were
always entertaining.

It's intriguing to read Jim's secrets, which a wide array of people
suddenly claim to know,
after his untimely departure. In his article Jim Keith's Big Secret,
Robert Sterling claims that
Jim secretly admired Bill Cooper. Jim did get quite a kick out of
Cooper, and at parties he
would play an audio tape he had of Bill Cooper leaving messages on an
answering
machine. The tape was a riot. Admiration may be the wrong word.

Sterling mentions also Jim's review of David Icke's book The Biggest
Secret. The review
was rather harsh. The last time I saw Jim Keith, we spoke about reviews
and how we both
hated reading them. Jim had his regrets about the Icke's review. He just
never got a chance
to apologize. He felt as if he might have abused his place in the
conspiracy genre, by
writing that review.

It's been over a month since Jim left us, and to me it still doesn't
seem real. I keep hoping
that he will call the house one day out of the blue, and it will all
have been a joke. Jim was a
fun guy, and he liked to joke around. But the jokes went so far, he very
much took his work
seriously- and he put his life on the line for it.